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The Berlin Blockade Is The First Major International Crises Of The Cold War

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The Berlin Blockade is said to be the first major international crises of the Cold War. The basis of this blockade was to cut of Western Allies ' railway, road, and canal access to the eastern side of the city. The Soviets proposed an offer to the west, in which they would drop the blockade, if newly introduced Deutschmark currency was withdrawn from West Berlin. But seeing as though if they did agree, the German society would only crumble even further, so the westerners rejected the offer. The idea of the an airlift came to mind of the western allies, as they wanted aid Berlin citizens and abolish the Soviet authority. This idea was inspired by the World War II American airlift from India, over the Himalayas, to China- “The Hump”, to resupply the Chinese war effort. Planning and investigating were soon done by the three nations in an attempt to figure out and carry out a large-scale solution.
On November 30th, 1945, it was announced that there would be 23-mile-wide air corridors providing passage to Berlin. Since the use of unarmed aircraft would be the transport method, the Soviets could not accuse that the cargo aircraft were a military threat, like if they were tanks or trucks. Being faced with non-lethal aircraft refusing to turn around, the only way to keep the blockade impassable would be to shoot them down. The Soviets were forcibly put in a position of either shooting down unarmed humanitarian aircraft, which in turn would break their own agreements, or back down

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